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In
my mind, 2001 marked a maturing of our consumer bank strategy. The
success of our retail efforts is clearly driving earnings momentum
while allowing us to maintain a very low risk profile. We became
a core-funded bank with a mix of assets approaching that of many
regional banks. That helped open up the interest margin and, when
combined with record-breaking asset generation volumes, provided
us with great tools for managing the balance sheet risk in terms
of interest rates, credit and capital. On the earnings side, we
hit 20% retail revenue growth for the fifth straight year. That
alone is a powerful part of our earnings momentum and repeating
that in 2002 would contribute half of our EPS growth target.
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